A Princess of Jasoom

In the beginning, everybody was to live forever and it was all right. There was

no death. One day they had to make a decision about it. Coyote did not want

death in The World. He said, "I'm going to throw a stick in the river. If it

sinks, people will begin to die. If it floats, it will be all right." He threw

in the stick and it floated.

Then Raven said, "No, I have the say here." I don't know where he got that

authority; I guess he just had it. He said, "I'm going to throw a rock in the

river. If it floats, there will be no death, but if it sinks, people will begin

to die." He threw in the rock and it sank right there.

That is how death got started in The World. Now, when the ravens come around,

we don't like it at all. -- Story told by Yellow Bear to his daughter.